A Rant on Character Intellectual Superiority

[mancalledtrue]

Short version: It's fine for your main character to know information that the rest of the cast needs to learn, but please don't make them smug about it unless the situation calls for it.

We've all seen this one: Character A knows something Character B doesn't know.  Character B needs this information at a key point in the plot.  Character A dispenses it in a manner that reeks of "God, you would be so helpless without me".  This may include references to eye-rolling, sighing, crossing of arms, rubbing of temples, or a thousand other little signs that Character A is irritated by having to tell this to Character B.

 

Fine in some circumstances, but all too often used in exactly the wrong ones.

Ever read anything by Keiran Halycon?  His stories are full of how this is misused.  Rose Potter never tells her "friends" anything without making a production out of how dumb they are for not having her knowledge.  Almost every discussion between her and Ron (the poor twat) includes at least two or three mentions of how she sighs or groans when she has to give him information that he really should know but which the author has seen fit to deny him.

This has come up in his work "Huntress" as well (which I'm currently at work on sporking).  Melanie rolls her eyes with disbelief over having to tell her younger brother something she specifically brought him on a trip to teach him.

Brian Corvello is a little better at this, but his fanboy Shuppet Master abuses the hell out of it in his approved-sequel-to-Brian's-work "Sister of Anansi", where all three of his protagonists are like this.  One of them even acts offended that she has to give out information in the middle of a Napoleon Dynamite reference!  It takes special skill to make a shout-out something that makes your audience want to groan.

The reason this is a problem is that it makes the character in question seem arrogant and egotistical.  It carries the air of "Oh, of course I know this, but I thought you did.  Very well, even though it will cost me precious time, I think I can deign to tell you what you need to know.  Just don't make a habit out of this, please."  Do this often enough and you begin to wonder why anyone would talk to the character.

I tell people facts they don't know all the time.  However, when I do so, I'm generally happy to do it, since I'm the sort of person who likes to spread knowledge.  Generally speaking, most of us don't even think about it when we tell people things.  It's just done.  Most people don't act like it's a chore every time they do it.

Of course, there are situations in which this is appropriate.  Being asked the same question multiple times will eventually sap anyone's patience, to the point a reaction like this is only natural ("For the last time, it's X."). 

And of course, some characters really are that smug and self-pleased, turning every instructional opportunity into a grandstand about how much smarter they are than the listener.

It's just that these characters make terrible protagonists.  Whoever's head we're in, we shouldn't want to bash their skulls in with baseball bats.

 

Comments

[szaleniec1000.livejournal.com]

Another problem with characters acting smug because they know something someone else doesn't is when it's used as exposition. Then the author is effectively calling the reader stupid as well. I like that even less than characters telling each other things they already know.

Re:

[serkaa10.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6M_6qOz-yw